ORTONVILLE - After nearly two years of alleged threatening remarks and phone calls to the Big Stone County Attorney, 29-year-old Michael Richard Schuelke of Willmar has been charged with one felony count each of terroristic threats and stalking, and a misdemeanor count for repeated obscene/harassing phone calls.
Charges were filed in November and a competency evaluation was conducted in December before the case moved forward.
An omnibus hearing in the matter took place Wednesday in Big Stone County Court, and another hearing will be scheduled at a later date. Because Big Stone County Attorney Bill Watson is the alleged victim in this case, Stevens County is prosecuting the case on behalf of Big Stone County.
Following the omnibus hearing, Schuelke was released from custody with conditions. The conditions include a ban on contact with Watson and restrictions on use of controlled substances such as alcohol.
According to an investigation by the Big Stone County Sheriff’s Office, Schuelke has a long history of harassing communication with Watson and his family - as far back as the spring of 2014, when Schuelke allegedly visited Watson’s office in Ortonville and threatened to shoot Watson.
The court documents say the threats continued through 2014 and 2015, multiple days per month, multiple times per day at Watson’s home and office answering machines. At most, Schuelke called nine times in one hour.
The threats were similar in that they were often profanity-laced.
“I will come after you to cut your lying tongue out,” Schuelke said in one voicemail to Watson in November.
Court documents show that Schuelke has been prosecuted by Watson’s office at least 11 times. The most recent cases were disorderly conduct in 2014. According to court documents, the charges were dismissed after Schuelke successfully completed probation.
